Apple had originally planned to launch the Homepod before the end of last year, in time for the holiday season. The company missed that deadline, and instead started to sell the device in February.

It rolled out a significant software update to the Homepod last month, bringing stereo-pairing and multi-room audio to the device. Apple also announced recently that it would start selling the Homepod in Canada, France and Germany starting June 18.

Apple did announce some major updates to Siri for mobile devices Monday, announcing that the company’s smart assistant would soon support something called Shortcuts — custom routines that can be assigned to any command phrase. However, there was no word on when these, or any other Siri updates, will arrive on the Homepod.

Part of Amazon’s dominance can be explained with much cheaper price points: Amazon’s Echo Dot speaker sells for just $50, and the company’s full-sized Echo retails for $100. Apple’s speaker on the other hand costs $349. This has resulted in some rumors that the company may introduce a cheaper version of the Homepod this year.

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SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director David White is urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign legislation that institutes penalties for nonconsensual digital sexually explicit videos, also known as “deep fakes.” The legislation, Assembly Bill 602, targets companies and individuals who create and distribute the videos in California without the consent of the individual being depicted. “We urge Gov. [...]

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